Over-Punishment? Texas schools?

This article relates to New York, but the
same issue could be raised about Texas
schools. The bottom line is whether our
obsession with zero tolerance is creating
mountains out of mole hills and forgetting
that there are other ways to correct poor
behavior that doesn't relate to juvenile
delinquency or arrests or other actions
even expulsion when not truly justified.

Read the article and decide for yourself
whether we are over-punishing. There
have been no articles that I have read
which complain about students' being
harassed by security officers in Texas.

The question I am posing is whether
zero tolerance needs to be re-considered.
We do not want students using drugs, but
one Advil or Tylenol to relieve cramps or
pain from an injury is far different from
drug use. A kindergärtner who brings a
Grandparent's Swiss Army knife for show and
tell should not be expelled. The principal and
the parents could deal with this issue easily.

Bullying needs swift reprisal and maybe a few
weeks in an alternative school might be
justified. But expulsion usually results in a
student just getting into more trouble
because no one is monitoring him/her in
the average two-parents working or
single-parent home.

November 29, 2009
EDITORIAL
Over-Punishment in Schools

New York City joined a national trend in 1998 when it put
the police in charge of school security. The consensus is
that public schools are now safe. But juvenile justice
advocates across the country are rightly worried about
policies under which children are sometimes arrested and
criminalized for behavior that once was dealt with by
principals or guidance counselors working with a student’s parents.

Children who are singled out for arrest and suspension are
at greater risk of dropping out and becoming permanently
entangled with the criminal justice system. It is especially
troubling that these children tend to be disproportionately
black and Hispanic, and often have emotional problems or
learning disabilities.

School officials in several cities have identified overpolicing
as a problem in itself. The New York City Council has taken
a first cut at the problem by drafting a bill, the Student
Safety Act, that would bring badly needed accountability
and transparency to the issue.

The draft bill would require police and education officials
to file regular reports that would show how suspensions
and other sanctions affect minority children, children
with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. Detailed
reports from the Police Department would show which
students were arrested or issued summonses and why,
so that lawmakers could get a sense of where
overpolicing might be a problem.

Most important, the bill would create an easily navigable
system under which parents, students and teachers
could file complaints against school security officers.
This provision comes in response to a 2007 report by
the New York Civil Liberties Union, which said students
were being roughed up for minor infractions like talking
back or walking the halls without a pass.

The Police Department and the Department of Education
are sometimes stingy with data. But the City Council is on
the right track when it says that the disciplinary system
could benefit from greater transparency. Lawmakers who
are negotiating with the city over the language of the
bill should keep this basic point in mind.


Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company